The theme for the month of June in the Documented Life Project was “Travel Journaling” and the first art challenge was illustrative art journaling. I had no trips planned in the month of June and figured I would just use previous trips as my inspiration. Somehow June got away from me, as well as most of July and I had not even started the challenges for June!

Then my mom and I took a little trip to Cottonwood Falls, Kansas for a few days to help celebrate a 60th wedding anniversary of her cousin as well as a big family reunion on her mother’s side. We stayed in a lovely place called the Church Guesthouse which was an old Presbyterian Church built in 1885. It had recently been restored and renovated into a four bedroom guesthouse with two and a half baths, full kitchen, living area, porch, and sunroom. Several other homes in this town have also been renovated and turned into guesthouses by the same owners. I highly recommend checking it out if you are planning a retreat or family gathering in Kansas  (The Church Guesthouse). It would be a wonderful place for an art retreat!

I have been fascinated by the travel journaling of Leslie Fehling on her blog, Everyday Artist. She does little sketches of things that interest her in her travels, colors them with watercolors, and adds journaling to her pages. I used her as my inspiration to document the Church Guesthouse. I did not do sketches while on the trip, but I did take pictures to use as reference later. Someday I will sketch on my journeys!